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The Basilica of
Sts Nazarius and Celsus
Former Cathedral Church of Carcassone
The jewel of the medieval City
• Historical and
architectural tour
• Detailed plan
ISBN: 978-2-7468-3308-1
Éditions du Signe
Tel.: +33 (0)3 88 78 91 91 - www.editionsdusigne.fr - E-mail: [email protected]
Text and Photos: Service communication, Diocèse de Carcassonne & Narbonne
Translation: Oliver Todd • Illustrations: François Ruyer
Layout: Éditions du Signe - 110029
© Éditions du Signe, 2015 - All rights reserved - Unauthorised reproduction prohibited
ISBN: 978-2-7468-3308-1
Printed in the E.U.
Éditions du Signe
I
ntroduction
Dear Visitors
The Basilica of Sts Nazarius and Celsus is one of the most
impressive churches in the south of France given its central position
in the medieval city of Carcassonne. It provides a sacred space
in the heart of historic Carcassonne, a vertical link between heaven
and earth.
People look at a church with very different eyes: those of a believer, a historian, a poet, a politician... Someone in charge of
heritage will detect a masterpiece of architecture and it is the case
that in certain periods the Church was able to mobilise artists to create
such masterpieces.
Christians believe that a church has a basic task: that of pointing to
the presence of Christ in the heart of the world, by gathering
together the people of God in all its diversity.
We hope that this little brochure will make you want to get to know
our beautiful basilica better and to take in all the spiritual wealth that it
reveals. May the play of light from the stained-glass windows illuminate
your visit!
The Carcassonne Tourism Ministry Team
Construction
The first Romanesque cathedral
was built from 1096 onwards, the date
when Pope Urban II blessed its building
materials. King Louis IX wanted to build
a Gothic church but the work was done
by his successors, Philip III, the Bold
(1270-1285), and Philip IV, the Fair
(1285-1314). The construction was completed under the episcopates
of Pierre de Rochefort (1300-1321) and Pierre Rodier (13231330).
A cathedral until 1803, it lost this title in that year to the parish
church of St Michel in the lower town. Classified as a historical monument in 1840,
it was restored by Viollet-le-Duc who repaired
the outrageous damage done during the Revolution. It would be honoured in 1898 by receiving the distinction of “minor basilica”.
Mass is celebrated each Sunday at:
• 9.30am (extraordinary form of the Roman Rite)
• 11am.
DIMENSIONS
The Basilica of Sts Nazarius and Celsus is a mid-sized church.
Inside it measures 59 metres in total length, 16 metres for the
width of its main section and 36 metres for the length of its transept.
It is built in local sandstone, the main material used for the enclosure
and chateau of the City.
Exterior
The north façade: the door, which opens there with its
five receding arches resting on small sculpted columns with
capitals and surmounted by a row of modillions
that are also sculpted, has been completely restored.
The east façade is not accessible; however,
it is possible to see it from the rampart if you take the guided
tour of the City. It consists of a smooth fortress façade, as is
often the case with medieval Languedoc churches.
The exteriors of the transept and the chevet display the usual Gothic characteristics: slender
buttresses surmounted here by small bell towers,
a pierced balustrade with a garland of leaves, gargoyles and protruding heads along with a tower and
a small belfry.
Interior
The main points of interest of the basilica are revealed inside. We
find ourselves plunged into the darkness and coolness of a Romanesque church with three naves after the fashion of the “hall church”
that probably originated in Catalonia. So it is lit only by the windows of
the side walls, hence the darkness and coolness which is welcomed in
sunny areas but is also an insurance against fire, an obsession of the
Middle Ages.
Its Romanesque architecture is bare, as is often the case in
Languedoc-Roussillon, but it is very well fitted out, skilful and robust. It
exudes peace and serenity.
The Romanesque capitals T
he stainedglass windows
They make up one of the most beautiful sets of medieval
stained-glass windows in the south of France.
The capitals, of which there are 52, are sculpted with a great
variety of extremely rich leaf motifs that are linked to the central rose
windows and the finely carved curved shapes at the side; only one of
them has a monster’s head.
Ihe transept
and Gothic choir
When you move towards the choir everything gushes with light. The
supports are slender and give the impression of a glass roof.
Take some binoculars to make it easier for you
to see the detail.
In the choir, the central window dates from 1280
and forms part of the oldest Gothic stained-glass
windows in the south of France. It features the life of
Christ in 16 medallions. Reading from left to right and
from bottom to top:
The Descent from the Cross - The Placing in the Tomb
The Carrying of the Cross - The Crucifixion
The Arrest of Jesus - The Scourging
The Entry into Jerusalem - The Last Supper
The Massacre of the Innocents - Christ among the Doctors
The Presentation in the Temple - The Flight into Egypt
The Nativity - The Adoration of the Magi
The Annunciation - The Visitation
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Added to these are the Resurrection of Christ and the Resurrection of the Dead, in the three upper trefoils.
The two nearby windows
date from the 16th century.
The one on the left represents: at the bottom, St
Celsus being presented by
his mother to St Nazarius;
at the top, St Hilary in the
company of St Gimer, who
was the bishop of Carcassonne from 903 to 932. The
window on the right features:
at the top, the Nativity of
the Virgin Mary; at the bottom, her Presentation in
the Temple by her parents
Joachim and Anne.
Moving away from the axial window, we discover
two 14th-century windows. The one on the left represents the lives of St Peter and St Paul. The
scenes from bottom to top are:
Life of St Peter on the left:
Crucifixion upside down
Peter appears in Rome before Nero
Peter’s miraculous deliverance
Arrest of Peter
Peters sends Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem
Peter cures a paralytic
Peter receives the Keys of the Kingdom
Jesus calls Simon Peter and his brother Andrew.
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
Life of St Paul on the right:
Paul is martyred in Rome
Paul preaches before the Areopagos
Paul embarks for Greece
Paul writes one of his letters
Paul enjoys the vision of the Holy Trinity
Paul receives his baptism
Paul enters blind into Damascus
Paul on the road to Damascus: his conversion.
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
The symmetrical right window features the lives of St
Nazarius and St Celsus in eight double scenes. Again from left
to right and bottom to top they are:
St Ambrose has the bodies of the two martyrs laid in the
Holy Apostles Basilica
The two saints are beheaded, and St Ambrose discovers
their bodies
The Prefect of Trier has the two saints thrown into the River
Moselle, they escape drowning and return to Milan
Out of prison in Cimiez, the two saints set off for Trier where
they are arrested
·
·
·
·
· Having taken Celsus as his companion, pre-
sented by his mother, Nazarius baptises him
and the two are immediately imprisoned
St Nazarius proclaims the gospel and
visits Sts Gervais and Protais in prison
(martyrs who were buried in Milan)
St Nazarius, baptised by St Linus, takes
leave of family and friends.
·
·
We find two windows from the 14th century in the
first chapels of the two transept arms. On the left, in
the Notre-Dame Chapel, is the Jesse Tree; on the right,
is the Tree of Life.
The two rose windows of the transept conclude the
series.
The one at the north comes from the beginning of the 14th
century and features the Crowning of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by angels, prophets and saints.
The south window, also from the 14th century, celebrates
Christ in majesty; in the corners at the bottom Sts Peter and
Paul can be seen.
The windows of the third and fourth chapels of each transept arm are from the 19th century.
WHO ARE ST NAZARIUS
AND ST CELSUS?
Nazarius was a young Roman, son of an officer of
the empire. Converted by his mother, Perpetua, he
went off preaching across Italy accompanied by another young man, Celsus.
Both of them were arrested and imprisoned in Milan.
They escaped and reached Trier where they were arrested once again and thrown into the River Moselle.
They managed not to drown and went back to Milan
where they were finally beheaded in 68 under Nero.
The great archbishop, Ambrose, exhumed their
bodies in 395 and placed their relics in the Holy Apostles Church which he had just had built.
Their life story is told by Jacobus de Voragine in The
Golden Legend (13th century).
The two martyrs were canonised and they are celebrated together on July 28th.
Did you know St Dominic preached the Lenten sermons in this
former cathedral in 1213. This man whose only arms
were his evangelical gentleness and his preaching
died 13 years before the Inquisition was set up. In
Aude, go and have a look at the Dominicans’ holy
places in Fanjeaux and at Prouilhe Monastery, below
the village.
The Gothic sculpture
The choir’s 22 Gothic statues are distinguished by their being cut into the body of their
supports:
1st pillar: Virgin and Child, St Joseph, St Nazarius, St Celsus
2nd pillar: Virgin of the Annunciation, Archangel
Gabriel, St Bartholomew
3rd pillar: St John
4th pillar: St James the Great
5th pillar: St Philip
6th pillar: St Peter
7th pillar: St Paul
8th pillar: St Thomas
9th pillar: St James the Less
10th pillar: St Matthew
11th pillar: St Andrew, St Helen, St Simon (or St
Jude)
12th pillar: The Angel of the
Passion, St Jude (or St Simon),
Christ, St Gimer.
One of the pearls of the sculpture in the Basilica of Sts Nazarius and
Celsus is located at the end of the north arm of the transept:
a polychrome stone Pieta dating from the 16th century.
In addition, in the first south chapel, there
is a sculpture whose rarity makes it precious: a 16th-century Trinity (God
the Father seated with God the
Son on the cross between
his knees, and God
the Holy Spirit in the
form of a mutilated
dove coming out of the Father’s mouth and resting
on the Son’s cross).
Things to note:
Nave furnishing
A Romanesque sandstone holy water font dating from the 12th century
can be seen.
A sarcophagus fragment
featuring a tangle of fighters: the siege of Muret by
Simon de Montfort.
The great organ
The Radulphe Chapel, not accessible to the public, adjoining
the south transept, contains the
tomb of Bishop Guilllaume
Radulphe (1255-1266).
At the north, the St Peter (or St
John) Chapel houses the tomb of
Bishop Pierre de Rochefort; it is
surmounted by a sculpted monument consisting of three niches
underneath carved gables which
contain the statues of the bishop
in full dress, surrounded on the
right by his principal archdeacon
Pons de Castillon, and on the
left by his minor archdeacon Gasc
de Rochefort, overlooking a
procession of canons and other
clergy.
Crespin Verniole was responsible for first constructing
it from 1637 to 1639 and it was
rebuilt by Jean de Joyeuse from
1680 to 1687. Jean-Pierre Cavaillé enlarged it from 1772 to
1775. Various restorations took
place in the 19th century. In 1962
the Friends of the Organ Society
was formed with a view to promoting concerts and financing
the instrument’s restoration, one
that was undertaken in 1982
by Bartolomeo Formentelli and
completed in 1985.
Every Sunday during
the summer an organ
festival enriches the cultural and liturgical life of
the basilica.
N
S
Plan
E
Basilica of Sts Nazarius and Celsus, Carcassonne
STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS
W
17
16
18
Romanesque Section
Gothic Section
Pieta (16th cent.)
1.
15
19
2.
Virgin Mary and St Anne
14
3.
Virgin Mary
20
4.
Tomb of Gérand du Puy, Archbishop of
13
21
Narbonne (1415-1420): recumbent
in alabaster (15th cent.)
5
5.
22 statues (14th cent.): Christ, Virgin Mary,
4
1
3
6
7
2
12 apostles, 6 saints, 2 angels
th
6. Trinity (14 cent.)
7. St Roch (17th cent.)
St Anne Our Lady
Holy Cross St Roch
8.
Our Lady of Health
Chapel
Chapel
Chapel
Chapel
23
9.
Siege stone (13th cent.)
th
th
TRANSEPT AND CHOIR, 13 -14 cent.
10.
St Peter
11.
St Paul (14th cent.)
25 9
12. Tomb of Pierre de Rochefort: bishop
24
(1300-1321): the bishop and two deacons
NAVE, 11th-12th cent.
13.
Jesse Tree: Jesse among 16 prophets.
10
11
Broken-barrel
vaults on transverse arches Sacred
Top: Last Judgement (14th cent.)
Heart
27
th
th
14.
Grisaille (17 -19 cent.)
Chapel,
th
th
th
COLLATERALS, 11 -12 cent.
15. Right: Life of St Paul (14 cent.);
14th cent.
St Peter or St John
open-cradle vaults
Left: Life of St Peter (14th cent.)
12
Chapel, 14th cent.
on transverse arches
16.
St Celsus being introduced to St Nazarius by his
th
mother; Top: St Saturninus and St Gimer (16 cent.)
St Anthony of
17.
Life of Jesus Christ in 16 medallions, from bottom
Padua Chapel,
to top and from left to right (14th cent.)
16th cent.
18.
Top: Nativity of the Virgin Mary;
12th century capitals
Bottom: Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
with plant designs except
Restored door,
(16th cent.)
those marked with an
19th cent.
28
asterisk which have
19. Life of Sts Nazarius and Celsus in 16 scenes,
animal motifs
from bottom to top and left to right (14th cent.)
Our Lady of Good
20.
Grisaille (18th-19th cent.)
News Chapel
21. Tree of life of St Bonaventure;
30
29
th
Bottom: Adam and Eve (14 cent.)
22.
South rose window: Christ in Majesty (14th cent.)
Tribune
Entrance
23.
North rose window: Kingdom of Heaven (late 13th cent.)
24. Sans Morlane epitaph
25. Headstone
26. Epitaph (15th cent.)
Tower
Tower
27.
Pulpit (19th cent.)
th
28. Stoup (12 cent.)
29. Baptismal font (1430)
30. Organ (1522 to 17th cent. and 1772 to late 19th cent.)
8
Guillaume
Radulphe
or Razouls
Chapel
(bishop
1255-1266),
13th cent.
22
Sacristy
26
3 arcades of the
St Nazarius Cloister or “Clos”
0
5
10m